Patent

By Alana Ballantyne - Edited by Irina Pomestchenko
Apps, short for “Applications” are a relatively new concept. Not long ago, the idea of having high-quality games, television shows, or movies at the tips of your fingers was a pipedream. Now, there seems to be an app for everything.
How do you protect your great app idea? The following is a step-by-step guide to help you protect your valuable IP.
Step number one? You need to patent your idea. First, you have to file what is known

By Irina Pomestchenko and Shandice Sluch | www.amdlawgroup.com
In an era where human space exploration is imminently upon us, advancements in space technology not only challenge gravitational boundaries but also established laws.
On October 10, 1967, the Outer Space Treaty was created. The treaty governs international space law. This treaty prohibits any claims of national sovereignty, yet permits all states to freely explore the outer space.
Traditionally, outer space was a government

By Kaiqi Du | www.amdlawgroup.com
From 2005 to 2015, the numbers of U.S. utility patent grants, including U.S. origin and foreign origin, were generally increasing; U.S. utility patent grants percent shares had an opposite trend with the design patent grants; the total numbers of U.S. patents grants were generally increasing. Specifically, year 2008 may be a critical year, since it was a turning point for U.S. patent grants.
Statistical Results
Figure 1. The Numbers of U.S

Erin Holbrook | www.amdlawgroup.com
When you come up with a new idea or method of doing something, amid all the excitement, you should think first about how to protect your new idea. That is what Dr. Nate Story did when he came up with his idea for the ZipGrow Tower. By protecting his invention, he was able to see his product come to fruition like never before.
When inventions are being thought up usually they start as a problem that needs solving. That was the case for Dr. Story co-owner

By Erin Holbrook | amdlawgroup.com
Late CEO of Apple Steve Jobs has been in the news lately for the large number of posthumous patents that have been won. A total of 141 patents have been awarded to Steve to be specific. The brilliant mind of Jobs are still being realized since his death in 2011. Jobs was a perfectionist and took great care for each element that went into Apple products. Up until his passing and after his lawyers had still been submitting patents for his ideas and innovations.

By Irina Pomestchenko - Editor: Shandice Sluch | www.amdlawgroup.com
Over the past few years, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has taken a progressively strict position on patent matters. In 2013, SCOTUS issued a ruling that human genes could not be patented in the Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. case. [http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/association-for-molecular-pathology-v-myriad-genetics-inc/]
This holding was followed by the Alice Cor

By Eliana Rocchi | amdlawgroup.com
The billion dollars app boom is far from being over! A recent study carried out by GIGAOM for the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/sizing-eu-app-economy) shows how apps are going to substantially contribute to the future global economy and how app developers are going to take the global lead. It is important, for app developers, to know how to obtain protection for their ideas at first, and in the end for their developed apps.

By Christina Severino | amdlawgroup.com
A study published by Boston University in 2012 found that over $29 billion of direct costs were generated by patent troll patent assertions. Further, it is estimated that these costs ballooned to over $80 billion, once the stock market reacts to such litigation. “Patent trolls,” or Non-practicing entities (NPEs), can be either a company or individual who essentially purchases patents, but has no intention to develop and market a product arising from t

By Katelyn Howells| Editor: Kristen Daly | www.amdlawgroup.com
Despite an increase of women taking higher level STEM courses (women taking STEM courses at equal or higher rates than their male counterparts), this increase is not reflected in the STEM workforce; women make up at most 39% of the workforce in individual fields. This discrepancy is also present in the patent law market. In 2012, women represented 33% of the legal profession as a whole, but only 25% of patent law practitioners

By Christina Severino | amdlawgroup.com
Over the past two years, Russia has made some significant advancements in the patent law arena. After gaining independence, Russia enacted new patent law in the early 1990s. However, these laws remained antiquated and left Russia behind until 2008 when it finally became compliant under the TRIPS Agreement (The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). TRIPS is an international agreement of the World Trade Organization. The Agree

By Kristen Daly | www.amdlawgroup.com
In Hinduism and in India itself, thanks in part to the current ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, cows are considered sacred animals. However, the significance of the cow dramatically increased at the turn of the twenty-first century when the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, endorsed the use of cow-urine as treatment for infections, diabetes, cancer and DNA damage.[1] Unlike the Intellectual Property Law

[podcast src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/6716898/height/360/width/450/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/" height="360" width="450" placement="top" theme="standard"]Download this episodeIn this episode, we discuss the three types of patents.
Lead-off Quote:
We think we have solved the mystery of creation. Maybe we should patent the universe and charge everyone royalties for their existence.
~Stephen Hawkings

By Irina Pomestchenko| Edited by Alana Ballantyne
The granting of a U.S. patent is a territorial right and does not provide protection abroad (see our blog on Territorial Limits of Patent Law blog for more details). A granted U.S. patent allows stopping others from making, using or selling the claimed invention in the U.S. only. If protection abroad is desired it shall be sought separately for each country of interest. There are several ways to accomplish this. Each approach bears its own

By Diana Chan | amdlawgroup.com
Even before you establish a brand, there are steps you can take to protect your intellectual property.
A business is recognized by its brand, and to protect the brand, businesses often federally trademark their brand. One major aspect of trademark registration is use. Do an initial research to get a sense of whether your idea for a brand name or logo is already being used with products or services similar to what you plan on selling. If there is, you might hav